Ioannou: Action Plan to integrate immigrants ready by early 2024

The Ministry of Interior is preparing an Action Plan 2024-2026 for the intercultural integration and social inclusion of immigrants, aiming to table it before the Council of Ministers by the end of the first quarter of 2024, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou has said.

The Minister chaired a meeting to present the Plan. It includes a set of 50 actions that concern the areas of housing, employment, skills improvement, education and health, Ioannou pointed out. ''These actions will jointly be coordinated by competent services and Ministries, such as the Ministry of Education and the Deputy Ministry of Welfare", he added.

The Minister of the Interior spoke of a "major" Action Plan, which, as he said, will be sent to the competent Ministries and within 15 days their recommendations will be submitted and then a public consultation will be initiated. "The goal is to complete the plan and submit it to the Council of Ministers for approval at the end of the first quarter of 2024," he said.

He further pointed out that the issue of the integration of immigrants is very high on the priorities of both the EU and the UNHCR. He noted that during his recent visit to Geneva, he had a meeting with the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs, who was informed about the Cyprus plan, because, as he said, "there was also a concern about this issue in terms of the commitments of Cyprus and our actions". Triggs, the Interior Minister said, expressed her satisfaction with the Government's actions regarding the integration of immigrants into the society and economy of Cyprus.

This will be discussed, inter alia, during the upcoming visit of European Commissioner Johansson at the beginning of January 2024 for the scheduled Inter-ministerial Meeting, the Minister said.

Replying to a question regarding the agreement reached in Brussels on immigration, the Minister of the Interior said that the important thing about the agreement "is that solidarity between states in the handling of immigration is now recognised". In times of crisis, as it happened in 2015-2016 period, there will be relocations, aid from other countries, and so on, he said. "Also, through the recognition of mandatory solidarity between countries, the agreement provides that frontline and receiving countries such as Cyprus, in cases where there will be disproportionate numbers of immigrants, will be able to proceed with relocations," he added.

"The ideal scenario would be for these relocations to be mandatory. Unfortunately, they are not. The other member states are given the possibility, instead of accepting legal immigrants to settle in their country, to be able to pay an amount set at €20,000 per person", the Minister stressed. "We will also need to see how exactly the mechanism will work for about 100,000 people a year for all the member states, how the distribution will be done between the states, and so on," he added.

"For Cyprus, the ideal would be for relocations to become mandatory, because it is not a question of financial aid, since as a country we already receive financial support from the EU", he underlined.

Finally, Ioannou said that the agreement reached is "a big step in the right direction" and referred to the measures proposed in it, pointing out that some are already being implemented in Cyprus. Indicatively, he referred to the provisions for rapid examination of asylum applications which is now completed within three months. "There's still a lot to be done, but it's a huge step in the right direction," he concluded.

(Source: CNA, Photo: PIO)